With the twenty-first century comes a new breed of struggling independent
artist: the indie game designer. Refusing to toil for major developers, these
innovators independently conceive, design, and program their distinctly
personal games in the hope that they, too, may find success.

After two years of painstaking work, designer Edmund McMillen and
programmer Tommy Refenes await the release of their first major game for
Xbox, Super Meat Boy--the adventures of a skinless boy in search of his
girlfriend, who is made of bandages. At PAX, a major video-game expo,
developer Phil Fish unveils his highly anticipated, four-years-in-the-making Fez.
Jonathan Blow considers beginning a new game after creating Braid, one of
the highest-rated games of all time.

First-time filmmaking duo Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky capture the
emotional journey of these meticulously obsessive artists who devote their lives
to their interactive art. Four developers, three games, and one ultimate goal--
to express oneself through a video game.

Director's Statement

In a world where the majority of video game titles are made by hundreds of
people with hundred of million dollars, there is an community of video game
designers doing it in a different way.

INDIE GAME: THE MOVIE is about the underdogs of the video game world:
the independent game developers. These developers make games with small
teams on modest budgets. They sacrifice money, health, and sanity to make
these works - games that, to them, are a deep form of personal expression.

Over a span of years, these developers toil on their games in their bedrooms
and apartments. But, they are not totally alone. Through this new connected
era, they can speak to millions of people through the Internet, and through
digital distribution, they can potentially make millions of dollars. All this - the
fans, the money, the personal exposure - can make the game-making process
a pressure cooker of anxiety.

INDIE GAME: THE MOVIE is about what it's like to create in a digital age. What
it's like to create under the Internet microscope. How it feels to put yourself out
there and expose yourself to the real-time social media feedback.

Like any artist, there's personal risk in releasing your work. You've invested
so much time and love. There's a hope that people will understand what you
did, and a fear of people not getting what you were trying to say. We think, we
were able to capture that universal emotional experience through following the
developers in the film.

-- Lisanne Pajot & James Swirsky, Directors

About the Production

INDIE GAME: THE MOVIE was created by two people, James Swirsky and
Lisanne Pajot, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. They have been working
on the project for over a year, gathering stories from indie game developers
all over North America. They have done all the producing, directing,
cinematography, editing, and writing for the feature film and the website.
Throughout the production, James & Lisanne faithfully blogged and tweeted
the project's every move - producing & releasing over 88 minutes of bonus
video content, 70+ blog posts and well over 5,000 tweets.

Trailer

INDIE GAME: THE MOVIE, a film by Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky. Picture courtesy BlinkWorks. All rights reserved.

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